In last month’s blog, I looked forward to our annual conference at the Hilton Metropole, NEC, Birmingham and now, this month, I can look back and reflect on that.
I always enjoy the LARAC conference as a chance to meet old friends and colleagues, to make new acquaintances, and learn from the brightest and best in our field. All those ambitions were met and indeed, exceeded. It was great to meet and talk with so many of our members, sponsors, and exhibitors and to feel their enthusiasm and energy over the three days. I tried to say thank you to as many sponsors as I could in recognition of their support for the event. Without their presence and financial support, the conference would not be the success it is and it’s important that they know how much LARAC values their contribution.
The major takeaway from the conference was a promise from a senior Defra official that the responses to the DRS and consistency consultations would be published by the end of the year. Whilst consistency will only apply to England, DRS will be UK wide and we need to understand how the scheme will work across the four nations, especially as messages from Scotland and Wales refer to variations. LARAC has always raised concerns that whatever systems we get, they shouldn’t promote illegal activity or cross border skulduggery. If there are to be differences in the schemes, then we need to work together to minimise any negative consequences.
I suppose that is conference season over and we now head into the shorter winter days to prepare for the usual challenges that this time of year brings, with bad weather and seasonal flu. It can be hard work as operations staff to make sure that the rounds get completed every day during the next four months. Whenever people I meet complain about missed collections, I always explain the position from the other side of the fence: how you don’t know how many staff you have until about 6am every day; how vehicle breakdowns increase with icing up and cold starts; how garden waste can freeze overnight and not thaw until late afternoon, well after the collection vehicle has visited. Once people know how difficult it is to get the vehicles and crews out of the depot every day, they soon develop respect for what you must do to keep operations running smoothly.
I have been in meetings with the EA about POPs and you can take some reassurance that updates due from them will give us more practical ways to deal with the problems of POPs in soft furnishings for bulky item collections and separation at HWRC sites. I will continue to work them to seek compromises that minimise the disruption to your services.
